A review of Blade Runner 2049

While my blog has distinct areas of focus and associated principles, I like to leave room for movie reviews. Both myself and my brother Amahl love movies, particularly the science fiction and super hero genres. We’ve teamed up on quite a few reviews thus far (see the end of this post). My blog’s last movie review was of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and prior to that, I wrote a review of the Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me. The 1980s was a magical time for movie making, and in this review we’re returning to our childhoods with a review of Denis Villenueve’s Blade Runner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto. Blade Runner 2049 is a sequel to Ridley Scott’s original 1982 Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford, Edward James Olmos, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, and Rutger Hauer.

Amahl: Coming into the sequel I had some questions about how a story that takes place in 2049 would work with our current technologies like GPS, social media, and drones in a post Obama/ Trump America. The sequel answered all of my questions, except for that regarding social media. There was no speculation of how social media would exist in 2049. That was fine, because there was so much more to this film to enjoy.

In the real world, if entities such as the Tyrell or Wallace Corporations created robots that looked and sounded human with the sole purpose of serving humanity, they’d create a minority class. I think that’s one of the underlying themes of both of the Blade Runner movies. There are a couple of scenes in Blade Runner 2049 where Ryan Gosling’s character, Officer K, a “replicant”, is bullied by human officers, verbally assaulted by his human neighbors, and propositioned by a human female co-worker. If real world corporations such as Apple, Google, or Tesla had the chance to create replicants, I think the results would be disastrous. A proper way to integrate robots with humans would be in ways similar to what was seen in the movies Chappie or Robot & Frank. In both films, the robots have sentient-style bodies, but have no use for hair, skin, or blood. By the way, I think Chappie could serve as a proper prequel to the original Blade Runner.

My ‘take away’ story moment from Blade Runner 2049 was when the replicant ‘Luv’, from the Wallace Corporation, entered a police station, removed ‘retirement’ evidence, and then killed a forensic scientist and then the police chief. It was a strange, but subtle moment in the script where I figured law enforcement would pursue Wallace Corporation. The crimes by Luv were never addressed, so I concluded in the Blade Runner future of 2049, corporations had outgrown the government or constitutional laws.

Anwar: First of all, I was fortunate to be able to see Blade Runner 2049 in 3-D for the general admission price due to a miscommunication at the ticket booth, so thank you Regal Cinemas. Secondly, I was disappointed that they didn’t run the latest Justice League trailer before Blade Runner 2049 started, though it interestingly appears that we’re getting a second installment of Pacific Rim. Gerard Butler’s new movie, Geostorm, looked visually interesting to me as well.

In terms of Blade Runner 2049, I didn’t really go in with any hard expectations. I was thankful, as I’m sure other fans were, that it wasn’t an attempt at a remake of the original as we saw with Robocop and Total Recall, which neither lived up to the originals. Seeing Harrison Ford in the trailer let us all know that this would be a continuation of the original story, though much later chronologically.

Without spoiling Blade Runner 2049 for any readers, I enjoyed the film. With total runtime of 2 hours and 43 minutes, I had to really pay attention to all of the plot details as I often get lost and have to see movies twice to take in everything, while my brother, Amahl, can usually catch it all on the first viewing. Blade Runner 2049 kept a great deal of the “Cyberpunk” visual themes that Ridley Scott created in his 1982 classic – the most notable carry overs being the hover cars, the dark and stormy ambiance, in some cases the sexual eroticism expressed through holograms and some actual scenes.

Musically, Blade Runner 2049 also reprised the distinct sounds of Vangelis from the 1982 original. The plot went in a completely different direction than the original and I must admit that I was thrown off a little bit at the end. Ryan Gosling played well as the lead in Blade Runner 2049, though his “replicant” was more robotic than those in the original film who were more human. At times his Officer K, who is shrouded in mystery from the beginning of the film, very much reminded me of Michael Fassbender’s David from Prometheus. While in the first Blade Runner, there weren’t distinct villains – only the replicants who are trying to escape and extend their lives, there seem to be distinct villains in this sequel. While she was evil, I must admit that I did enjoy “Luv” played by Sylvia Hoeks. Harrison Ford’s Deckard returns to play a key role and it’s once again unclear or unaddressed if he is a replicant himself, though the plot suggests he must be. It was also unclear if there will be a third installment, though the door is left wide open for another film.

Thank you for taking the time to read our review. If you enjoyed this one, you may also enjoy:

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Author: anwaryusef

Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath.
Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics.
Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.
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